Faculty

FUNATO Shuichi

Professor

  • Department of Regional Cultural Policy and Management
Research Keywords：
Population Decline, Depopulation, Marginal Village
Degrees M.A. (Japanese History), Tokyo University (1997)
B.A. (Product Design), Sophia University (1995)
Selected Professional Experiences Researcher Fellow of Sustainability Research and Education Organization, Hosei University (2009/11-2011/3)
Researcher Fellow of Science Interpreter Training Program, Tokyo University (2006/4-2009/10)
Research Fellow (PD), Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (2000/4-2004/3)
Research Fields Regional Sociology, Rural Sociology, Environmental Sociology
Major Publications
  • "Jikka ya Shuraku tono Kakawari ni taisuru Tashutsushi Honnin no Ishiki" [Awareness of "Children who have moved" about their Relationship with Parents’ Homes and Villages: Survey of Sakuma Town, Tenryu Ward, Hamamatsu City]. Shakai to Chosa [Advances in Social Research]. 26. pp.77-82. 2021. (in Japanese)
  • Henyo-suru Toshi no Yukue: Fukugan no Toshiron [Whereabouts of The Transforming City: Compound Eye City Theory]. Tokyo: Bunyusha. 2020. (in Japanese)
  • Shoku no Rokujisangyoka to Chiiki Shinko [Sixth Industrialization of Food and Regional Promotion]. Kanagawa: Shumpusha. 2015. (in Japanese)
  • Shoku to No no Komyuniti-ron: Chiiki kassei-ka no Senryaku [Food and Agriculture Community Theory: Regional Revitalization Strategy]. Osaka: Sogensha. 2013. (in Japanese)
  • Kankyo to Shakai [Environment and society]. Kyoto: Jimbunshoin. 2012. (in Japanese)
Academic Organizations The Japan Sociological Society
The Japanese Association for Rural Studies

Message

In recent years, in agricultural and mountain villages where the population is declining and the population is aging, villages where more than half of the inhabitants are 65 years old or older are called "marginal villages", and studies have pointed out the possibility of their disappearance. In such studies, it is believed that these villages disappear as the population declines. On the other hand, in such villages, there is a reality that "outside children" - children who have moved out of there - return to their parents' homes and support their parents' lives.
If family relationships beyond these villages are maintained, it is unlikely that the villages will disappear so easily even if the population declines and the population ages. I am specializing in "sociology". Sociology considers society from the "human to human relationship". Humans live in "relationships". It is important to think about rural villages from family relationships, not from the population and aging rate.
Education